Chapter 17 - The Cabin

Luci had never been happier than she was while hiding in the cabin with Xavier. They had spent the past week getting to know each other, and at times, they even forgot why they were there. She had talked to him about growing up and how much she missed her sister.

Xavier told her how life was in the palace with his sister. They had laughed sometimes so hard that they had tears in their eyes. Luci had never spent time with anyone talking about any and everything. She found that with Xavier, it came naturally.

Xavier was using this opportunity to do everything he could to let Luci see how good it would be to be mates. He saw that she had a very soft, caring side she kept hidden. In the days they had been at the cabin, Luci showed more and more of that side of herself.

They were lounging on the couch in front of the fireplace, and Luci had her head in Xavier's lap while he ran his fingers through her hair. She was so close to telling him she would be his mate, but she was still hesitant. He wasn't pressuring her, so she decided to continue this sweet ride to see where it went.

"I've enjoyed this time here, but what are we going to do about Nolan? We can't stay in this cabin in the woods forever." She rolled on her back so she could look up into his face. Xavier was looking out the window, seemingly miles away.

"I don't know yet. I'm sure Nolan hasn't given up, but I don't know what we can do to make him stop coming after you. I want to tell my dad about him but I would rather wait until we have a plan. Nolan and his co-conspirators need to be stopped. What do you think?"

Xavier looked down into his lovely mate's face that he had fallen in love with and smiled. He hadn't told her he was in love with her because he didn't want to scare her away. Each day they had been together, the feeling had gotten stronger. If she rejected him, he knew he would die a painful death.

"I don't know. I agree the most important thing is to stop his whole operation, but we don't even know how big it is. There may be someone above him that's pulling the strings. How do we get to that person to make everything come crashing down?" Luci loved that Xavier always asked for her opinion. Most people treated her like she was nothing more than an oversized Barbie doll. It was nice to have someone actually talk to her and listen to what she had to say.

"I'm going to have some of my contacts get us more information. I'll have them follow Nolan and see if they can find any partners. I would love to keep you in this cabin with me forever and forget about the rest of the world, but I know that's not possible. Other vampires and shifters are at risk if we keep this to ourselves. How about we stay here until we know more about what he's doing? Then we'll make a plan." He ran his hand over her soft silky cheek while he looked into her dark brown eyes.

"Alright, whatever you think is best. Can I ask you something?" Luci looked away because she was a bit embarrassed to let him know what she was thinking.

"Ask me anything you want." He leaned down to kiss her forehead, making her heart flutter with excitement.

"If I were to accept you as my mate, would you want children?" She looked away again, not wanting to see his face.

"Yes, I've always wanted children, but that's a decision we would make together. Do you want children?" Xavier tried to control his excitement at her current topic. If she was asking him about children, that meant she was thinking about what it would be like to be his mate.

"Honestly, I never thought about it before now. What do you think our children would be? Would they be lycans or vampires or a mixture of both?" Luci didn't want to admit to him that she had thought about what it would be like to have a house full of children. She had always wished her parents had given her more siblings.

"I don't know, but I'd love to have a daughter that looks just like her beautiful mother. If we were to live in the palace, I would have guards to keep the boys from banging down the door to get to her. If our daughter is anything like her mother, she'll be a heartbreaker." Luci's heart felt like it was in a puddle listening to Xavier talk about their hypothetical daughter. It was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.

"You'll be an excellent father." Luci crawled onto Xavier's lap to sit sideways with her feet on the couch. She then pulled his face down to hers so she could kiss him.

She kissed him tenderly, wanting to show him how much he meant to her even if she couldn't say the words. Luci was starting to fall in love with Xavier. He made her feel like she mattered. She let her kiss say what her mouth wasn't ready to admit.
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Nolan had his people comb every place he knew Luci could try and hide, but nothing had panned out. He decided to take another approach and focus on the lycan.

It took a while, but he was able to have someone provide the name of the person who rented the room at the hotel in Las Vegas. The name sounded familiar to him, but he didn't know why. Xavier Edric Dacre. Who uses their full name like that when renting a room?

That's when it hit Nolan, and he felt a ripple of fear. This lycan wasn't just a royal; he was a prince. Nolan wondered if Xavier was the crown prince or one lower on the totem pole. Not that it mattered; they were untouchable even by vampires.

If Luci was with a lycan prince, who knows what she had told him. Nolan had to find them fast before the prince said anything to the king. He had his men look for anything rented in the prince's name.

After several days of searching, they found where he had rented a car in Las Vegas. They were then able to track down a cabin he rented in Arizona. There was nothing more after that, so Nolan assumed they were still in the cabin.

He decided it was time to take a trip to Arizona. He would still go with the plan he had made in Las Vegas; he would take Luci while someone else subdued the lycan. Nolan knew they would have to be quick so the prince wouldn't have time to turn into his lycan form.

Nolan called one of his men, who was good with a dart gun and told him to get darts coated with something strong enough to put a lycan to sleep for a few hours. Once that was in place, he called a few of his men, who were all muscle in the event it came to a fight.

He and his five men caught the next flight from New York to Arizona. Once they were on the ground, an SUV was waiting to take them to the cabin. They arrived at their destination at nightfall. He thought that was a good thing so they could sneak up on the couple when they least expected it.

They parked the SUV down the road so the engine wouldn't be heard. Nolan kept the man with the dart gun with him and had the others spread out around the cabin. As they got closer, he could see lights on inside. The front of the house was made of windows, so he crouched down to locate his targets.

He saw that they were on the couch in the living room. Luci was sitting on the prince's lap, kissing him. Nolan thought this would be the perfect time to sneak in so the dart could knock the prince out and he could take Luci.

As they quietly approached the front door, Nolan kept his eyes on the two on the couch. Neither was paying any attention to anything except for each other. He put his hand on the door handle and slowly turned it. Luckily for him, it was unlocked.

He pushed the door open without a sound as he and the man with the dart gun crept inside. Nolan was almost to the couch when Luci looked up and saw him. As she started screaming, the prince jumped up and put her behind him.

Nolan saw that Xavier was changing into lycan form, but he was shot with two darts before he changed completely. One in the neck and the other in the chest. It only took a couple of seconds for him to fall to the ground. Luci tried to run away, but Nolan grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the cabin while she screamed.

"I suggest you shut the hell up before I kill you and your lover. I'm going to give you a choice, you can agree to be my mate, or I can kill you. I'll give you time to consider it while we fly back to New York."